I've had that capability in my house since 2007, and I didn't have to pay Verizon or anybody else any special fees to do it. If somebody rings the doorbell, I can see who it is and talk to them, from my office or anywhere else. I can override the programming of the thermostats if I don't come home, or if I come home early. I haven't invested in the remote control litterbox cleaner, but otherwise it's all covered.
It's not rocket science, the technology has existed for years.
Verizon on Wednesday will launch its home monitoring and control service to combine its network with homes.
The service, which has been in testing in New Jersey homes for most of 2011, is designed to allow customers to access and control doors, thermostats, appliances and monitor home energy use. Ultimately, Verizon customers will be able to adjust settings via smartphones, PCs and TVs. Tablets will be added in later.
For Verizon, the smart home effort is an incremental revenue stream and a way to make its network more ingrained with customers. The monitoring service will ride shotgun with a connected energy reader that highlights energy usage via a portal.
Verizon introduced the home monitoring service in January at the Consumer Electronics Show.
